


the cellar

by isabewwe (rubyguard)



Series: hurry home to me [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Domestic, F/F, Fantasy, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbians, Original Character(s), Repitition, Self-Indulgent, Werewolves, Whump, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14967887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyguard/pseuds/isabewwe
Summary: it's not right to imprison a werewolf.





	the cellar

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know what this is but i'm proud of it!
> 
> warning - there are descriptions of blood and injury in this story: specifically handcuff injuries around the wrist. i don't think it's too bad, but stay safe, proceed with caution. i love you.

 

 

 

 

 

full moon tonight, she thought detachedly.

it'd been nearly a year and she was just about used to it now. well. almost. this wasn't really something you get used to quickly. it still felt odd, unnatural.

six pm, but the sun was still high in the early june sky. maude kept glancing out of the kitchen window overlooking the fields. nursing a hot cup of tea after spending the day baking. the sheep seemed more skittish than usual tonight: collectively turning their heads at the slightest gust of wind. the sheep could tell, she thought. they could tell when the full moon was coming.

cecily was in the field, tending to an injured lamb. little peggy. she hurt her leg, poor thing.

maude could see cecily in the distance, sitting in the grass with peggy in her lap. cecily always put the sheep at ease. she looked after them well. they trusted her.

 

_she'll have to come in soon_ , maude thought. _i'll have to tie her up and lock her in the cellar again_. spend the night listening to her howling and clawing at the walls. maude flinched at the thought.

it's the only way to keep the everyone safe.

 

cecily didn't often talk about her condition. didn't let it get to her. they had a good thing going, maude and cecily: they lived together in the middle of nowhere, far away from the nearest village. they had the sheep to look after. they had fruit and vegetables growing, they had shelter. they had the shackles in the cellar to keep cecily safe when she turned. it was all worked out. they didn't have to talk about it.

 

when the sun lowered to the horizon, cecily came inside.

"good evening, love," she said, sitting on the arm of maude's chair to give the smaller woman a one-armed hug. "peggy is bandaged up, in the barn with her mother. she'll be all right."

maude said nothing and stared into her empty teacup.

"what's the matter?"

"you haven't forgotten, have you?" maude mumbled.

"it's just one night. then i'll come out of the cellar right as rain and we can-"

"i don't want you to stay in the cellar. i want you here, with me."

cecily sighed and placed a hand over maude's.

"i'm sorry, my love, but you know what happens when i turn. you could get hurt. we could both get hurt."

maude hung her head. "i know." a pause. "i just worry about you being in the dark all on your own-"

"sweetheart, it's all right. i'm used to it. i will be just fine."

she hugged maude again, but maude didn't hug back.

 

* * *

 

maude couldn't sleep. she could never sleep on nights like these.

the noise. hoarse, gargled growls and barks interspersed with the jangling of chains. roars of pain. whimpers. groans. sometimes it sounded like human speech. "maude. maude. _please_." cecily screaming her name. violent metallic clangs that shook the cottage as she threw the chains against the wall. and maude was curled up in bed. their bed, which felt too cold and too big without cecily there. and maude was helpless.

 

couldn't sleep.

she lit a candle, gripped it tightly as she climbed down the ladder. her hands were shaking.

_i'm doing this for her_. 

 

she hesitated at the cellar door. there was no knowing what to expect. she had never seen cecily turn before. never seen her in this form.

 

"maude... maude…" growling. crying.

"cecily."

 

the candle cast a dim light on the cellar wall as maude slowly, slowly opened the door.

 

there she was. face unrecognisable, twisted, elongated. sharp teeth painfully bared in an unnaturally wide grimace. wiry dark red fur covering her body. her clothes were lying torn on the floor. she was hunched over, on all fours. shaking like a dog. staring up at maude with raw red eyes.

"cecily." it was barely a whisper.

the creature sobbed in high-pitched whines. her wrists bled where she had clawed at the shackles. spots of blood were pooling at her feet.

then cecily lunged, barking, gnashing as she strained to reach maude. the shackles held fast and she roared in pain as the wounds on her wrists opened again and blood streamed down her clawed hands.

 

maude's heart pounded. what do i do? how do i help her?

there wasn't a lot of knowledge about werewolf behaviour. all maude knew was that they were dangerous to livestock and people. but cecily had been bitten almost a year ago. since then she had spent every full moon in the cellar. she had never hurt anyone.

 

"maude… p-please…"

maude took a shaky step closer. 

"cecily. cecily, i'm so sorry i locked you down here. so sorry," she whispered. she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. her throat constricting painfully in that familiar tearful way. how could she do this to her dearest, beloved cecily? how could she put the one she loves the most through this much pain? in the morning, cecily would be herself again, covered in cuts and bruises and marks. and it would be maude's fault for shutting her in here.

cecily collapsed as if exhausted. a long tongue lolled from her mouth as she panted. tears rolled down her snout.

maude walked slowly closer, and when cecily didn't respond, she knelt down beside the creature.

"i'm sorry. so sorry."

gingerly, gingerly, she placed her hand on cecily's neck and stroked the long hair growing there. cecily gave a keening sob, then relaxed into maude's touch.

they spent some time like this. maude mumbling soothing words and gently petting cecily's fur. 

maude took the key from around her neck and by the light of the candle, she unlocked the shackles and freed cecily's bleeding wrists. cecily huffed in relief and gently licked the palm of maude's hand.

"i love you. i love you." maude whispered. cecily gave a whimper that sounded something like "i love you too". her red eyes fluttered shut. and everything was all right again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

maude woke up beside cecily, like usual. they were lying on the cellar floor. cecily was herself again, cuts and sores and her torn clothes the only evidence of what happened last night. she was sleeping soundly, cuddled close to maude. long, silky red hair fanned out beneath her.

maude let out a sigh of relief. they were both all right. 

deciding to let her sleep, maude rose, pressed a kiss to the sleeping woman's forehead, and climbed the cellar steps to the kitchen.

 

 

cecily came in some time later, while maude was cracking eggs into a pan.

"maude. what happened last night?"

maude said nothing. didn't turn to look at her. cecily shrugged on the dressing gown maude had left on the chair for her.

"did you come down to the cellar? did you unshackle me?"

maude swallowed back tears. she couldn't stand the thought of cecily angry at her for taking such a risk.

"you don't know what could have happened. i could have h-"

maude cut her off. "you could have hurt me. i know. but the shackles were hurting _you_. i couldn't just. i couldn't just stay there listening. i couldn't stand it." maude was crying now, bitter tears rolling down her cheeks as she hunched over her cooking.

"but to approach me as a wolf - we don't know what could have happened."

"i don't care." maude choked. "you don't deserve to be chained up like that. you're all i have. i l-" maude took a trembling breath. "i love you. i love you."

maude sniffed as she felt cecily's arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her into a tight hug. felt cecily wince at the exertion on her injuries. "don't - your wrists-"

"i love you too, maude. i love you so much. thank you. _thank you_." cecily murmured the words into the back of maude's neck. punctuated each sentence with a feather-light kiss.

 

 

maude bandaged cecily's wounds and fed her breakfast, all the while recounting to her what had happened the night before. she cried again. overcome with emotion.

 

and cecily kissed her tears away.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> komments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)
> 
> thank you for reading :)


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